San Francisco to Turn Restaurant Oil Into Biodiesel
San Francisco is on a roll. In April, the city banned plastic shopping bags, banned bottled water in some restaurants, and banned Styrofoam takeout containers. In another progressive step, plans are now under way to turn the copious amounts of waste vegetable oil produced by the city's 2600 restaurants into biodiesel. The goal: offsetting 20% of the diesel fuel used by city buses.
Under a $1.3 million dollar program, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will turn a very large and problematic waste product into a renewable fuel:
Fats, oils and grease have been a significant problem for San Francisco’s sewers, SFPUC officials said. When not disposed of properly, the greasy waste can form thick layers inside the pipes. Sewage flow becomes constricted, which causes odors, attracts rats and leads to backups in The City’s sewer system, all of which create costly cleanup problems."
This problem is not unique to San Francisco - any restaurant with a deep fryer produces a steady stream of waste vegetable oil (WVO). The used oil is generally stored and picked up by chemical companies, who process and incorporate it into various products including animal feed and cosmetics. In some parts of the country the oil is just thrown away.
But it's relatively easy to turn WVO into a fuel, and it can be a substantial untapped resource. SFPUC official Lewis Harrison stated that at least 1 million gallons of biodiesel could be produced from left-over restaurant grease, which is "more than enough" to run the city's entire bus fleet on B20. Since WVO is a waste stream, offsetting petro-diesel usage with WVO biodiesel is particularly advantageous: the use of 1 million gallons of WVO-biodiesel would offset 19,600,000 lbs (9800 tons) of carbon dioxide emissions each year. It also has significant economic and public health benefits: municipal biodiesel production should beat the $4/gallon price of fuel in San Francisco, and B20 biodiesel blends cut diesel soot emissions by 20-40%.
SFPUC officials are hoping to have the city buses running on B20 by the end of 2007.
The Examiner (April 3, 2007) Fats to grease Muni’s wheels
More on Biodiesel: Biodiesel Mythbuster
Photo Credit: http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
Tags: Alternative Fuels, alternative+fuels, Automobiles, B20, Biodiesel, biofuels, Environment, public transportation, san+francisco
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April 30th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Wow!!!!! This is so incredibly exciting! Seriously, I am sitting in my office trying to contain myself (and I hardly can!) What a wonderful step in the right direction! And using Waste Veggie Oil (which I think is the only way to go)! I love it! Can you imagine if all cities did this? Now all we need are hybrid diesel buses! Thank you so much for sharing this story Clayton! Good sh*t San Francisco!
April 30th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
SeQuential Biofuels and the Portland Biodiesel Coop have been doing this for years in Portland, Oregon.
May 1st, 2007 at 2:56 am
it’s news like this that makes me wish i was still living in san francisco! but maybe if all us san franciscans moved somewhere else and started bugging our neighbors to make change…
well, at least SF property rates would go down!
May 1st, 2007 at 8:25 am
Even they should do that a years ago this is great news.
In Europe this is trend for several years already. For example in Vienna-Austria 25% of public transport runs on biofuels collect from restaurants oil.
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:59 am
Question: will the city pay restaurants for their oil? If so, how much? I’m just wondering, because if it’s not an attractive offer they won’t have good compliance rates, and much WVO will still go down the drain. But it sounds like a great program, and I hope it takes off!
Zack K, don’t get too excited about biodiesel in San Francisco–I just moved here from Seattle, and have found that SF is _years_ behind. Biodiesel is not only much more expensive here, but it’s very difficult to get. Instead of places being open 24/7 like in Seattle (and several other places around the country, including Salt Lake City), places here are only open a few days a week, and only for a few hours per day on those days. It’s pathetic. Not a viable option for most people. And that’s true of everyplace within a hour’s drive of the city.
May 4th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
I read that you got 1982 Datsun 720 pickup to run on vegetable oil. Thats amazing that you not only got a 1982 Datsun 720 pickup to run in the first place but you also made it run on veggie oil.